


In which Naruto learns a thing or two

by MonarqueNocturne



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Hokage, Konoha - Freeform, Surprising news, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-12 01:52:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonarqueNocturne/pseuds/MonarqueNocturne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Slice of life. Tsunade summons Naruto and gives him a surprising (well... not really) new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Naruto learns a thing or two

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING! This work has not been beta-ed. It's as raw as Sashimi. It's also a bit pointless.

**In which Naruto learns a thing or two**

Naruto slammed his alarm clock as it rang loudly in his apartment. With a “crunch”, its legs separated from its body. Grunting, Naruto rolled over and lifted up his froggy sleeping hat, cracking an eye open to see the time. Five thirty. The not-so-hyperactive-at-the-moment ninja let his hat fall back over his eyes and buried his face in his pillow, determined to fall back asleep.

About thirty seconds passed before his second alarm clock rang, even louder than the first. Naruto grabbed his second pillow and put it over his head, shielding his ears from the aggressive sound. After a minute or two, though, something banged loudly and repeatedly over his head.

“Uzumaki!” BANG BANG BANG. “Do something about your damn clock or else-!” BANG BANG BANG.

Muttering against annoying neighbours, Naruto reluctantly got up and, wrapped in his favourite blanket, walked to the other end of the room. He opened his dresser, took out his ringing alarm clock and, controlling an impulse to simply smash it on the floor, turned it off. He let it fall back into the dresser and, zombie-like, dragged himself to his bathroom.

His bathroom was becoming too small for the young man. It was a modest room that could be crossed in a step or two, containing a sink, a shower, a mirror and a cabinet. Letting his body handle the familiar routine, Naruto found his toothbrush put some toothpaste on it, before remembering that he had not, in fact, eaten yet. Leaving the toothbrush on the edge of the sink, he splashed some water on his face to awaken himself (with little success) and left the room.

In his kitchen, he drank some milk from the container, but not before checking the expiration date. Painful experiences had taught him over time to watch out for expired products. Feeling a bit more human, he rummaged through his refrigerator. Deciding on eggs and toast, he took out everything he needed and started to cook. He had little patience for such things, but he had grown out of living strictly of ramen. Well. At least no more than once or twice a day. Top. His eggs ended up half raw and his toast a little burned, but hey, food was food.

Food always did wonder on Naruto’s mood in the morning. His stomach satisfied, the ninja’s fatigue seemed to fly away. With renewed vigour, Naruto cleaned up his morning dishes and went back to finish his ablutions. He really could not understand why his annoying neighbour got angry again as he sang on the top of his lungs in the shower. What a weirdo, honestly.

The young man, now perfectly awake, dressed in a flash, concealing various weapons on his person. His finished by putting his hitai-ate and, like any good ninja, jumped out of his window to go outside (doors were way too mainstream).

As he ran, ideas ran through his mind at lightning speed. First, he had to train. He had at least three techniques he wanted to polish up and one other he had found out about the day before he wanted to learn. It looked so _cool_. Lee had handed him his ass on a spar a few days back, so taijustu training was a must. He had a few new ideas he wanted to try for the Sage Mode. And, well, he had been meaning to have a talk with Kuruma for a while, but it always slipped his mind. The fox would be irritated if he delayed that even more. He had not seen Sakura for almost two weeks even if they were both in the village, so he had to work on that. Maybe he could drop by the hospital before going to Ichiraku for lunch. And there was this seal-thingy granny Tsunade had given him, but it was weird and _complicated_ and he really did not feel like trying to decipher it… He had never been good with written words, anyway. Maybe Sakura could help, since she was smart? Yeah. He would show it to her later.

His schedule for the day roughly done, Naruto got to his favourite training field in a record time, only to find it occupied by team 8, minus Kurenai. Well, that was a surprise. It was rare to see them all together, nowadays. Most of the ninjas of Naruto’s age now had their own missions, breaking the teams they had grown up with.

“Hey, guys!” Naruto exclaimed, a huge grin on his face.

Team 8 waved at him and smiled back. They were not surprised to see him, having probably sensed him from afar.

“Isn’t it Naruto!” laughed Kiba.

“D-did you want the field to train, N-Naruto?” asked Hinata in her soft, timid way.

“Yeah, but it’s no biggie,” answered easily the hyperactive ninja before dropping on the grass beside his fellow ninjas. “I’ll find some other place later. Weren’t you on a solo mission, Hinata?” enquired Naruto.

“She came back yesterday,” answered Shino in his monotone voice.

“Yeah!” exclaimed Kiba. “Without a scratch, even! That’s our girl,” he added, grinning cheekily. Hinata blushed and inclined her head, hiding her face with her long hair.

“I-it was an easy mission,” she murmured. Kiba snorted and Shino lifted an eyebrow, but they did not argue. There were some battles that were lost before they begun.

“So so so,” said Naruto excitedly, “what were you guys doing? It’s still pretty early.”

“Lady Tsunade is in need of our specific set of skills for a mission,” answered Shino flatly.

“And, well,” interrupted Kiba, “it’s been ages since we were all in the village at the same time. S’not like we can see each other that often.” Kiba laughed and reached for Akamaru. The enormous dog pressed the side of his face into Kiba’s hand and let himself be scratched, closing his eyes lazily in pleasure. “Speaking of old teams, have you seen Sakura, lately? I missed her the last time at was at the hospital.”

Careful not to turn the conversation to another old teammate, Naruto shrugged. “No, not really. I meant to go and say hi at lunchtime. Wanna come?”

The three teammates exchanged glances. Reaching an unspoken agreement, Kiba spoke up.

“Why not?”

Shino and Hinata nodded their agreement. “I-I would like to see Sakura very much, too,” said Hinata.

“Great!” Naruto jumped on his feet, a large grin splitting his face. “Well, I’ve got stuff to do –“

“And we have to plan for our mission,” interrupted placidly Shino.

“– so I’ll see you, say, at noon at the bridge?” continued Naruto as if he had not been cut. He was practically bouncing with energy. “We’ll go and get Sakura together! It’s gonna be a really cool surprise! All right, gotta run! Awesome seeing you guys!”

In a flash he was gone, screaming “Later!” over his shoulder and disappearing in the trees of the forest. The three members of team 8 sat silent for a few seconds, shocked by Naruto’s abrupt going. Kiba snorted and shook his head.

“That guy is unbelievable,” he announced before letting himself fall back in the grass. “Speaking to him is _so_ draining.”

His teammates laughed softly at the irony of Kiba, incredibly energetic ninja that he was, saying something like that about anybody.

Meanwhile, Naruto was trying to find an unoccupied field, but everybody seemed to have decided to get up early and train this morning. The twelfth field he visited was free. Whooping, he ran around, setting everything he needed to set for his training. What should he start with? There were so many possibilities! After a minute of thinking, the hyperactive young man decided upon trying that new justsu he had been thinking about. He felt a bit bad about not starting with speaking with Kuruma, but he could always do that later –

That was when a messenger bird burst from the forest and landed on his arm.

“Aw, man!” complained Naruto aloud. “Not now!”

He still proceeded to take the message that was rolled over the bird’s leg. As soon as he had taken it, the bird flew away in a flurry of feathers.

“Yeah, yeah, shoo,” said Naruto half-heartedly, a bit annoyed. With a theatrical sigh, the young man read the message with the same enthusiasm he always had while reading. Which was none.

 

_Gaki,_

_I need you at the tower ten minutes ago.  
Get your ass over here. _

_Tsunade_

Well, wasn’t that charming.

“Argh!” exclaimed Naruto before slipping the piece of paper in his vest. He threw a last lingering look at his training ground, which had taken so much time to find and arrange, and took to the trees at incredible speed.

While he was running, using chakra absent-mindedly to stick to tree branches, Naruto tried to think. Why would Tsunade want to see him? Did something happen? Did he forget something? Naruto always forgot all sorts of things, so that would not surprise him. Did Tsunade know that he had not looked at the documentation about seals she had given him? Oh Gods, did she know that he had decided to cheat and ask Sakura to explain it to him? How? He had not told anybody!

But Naruto had a one-track mind and once something stuck in there, it would not be removed. So it was convinced that Tsunade wanted to bash his head over because of his impure thoughts of cheating that he arrived at the Hokage tower.

Like always, Naruto burst into the tower at full speed, barely greeting the guards at the door. He ran through the corridors and climbed up the stairs in a few jumps, barely avoiding hitting the people who crossed his way. He finally got to the Hokage`s office and, neglecting to knock, catapulted himself into the room.

“I didn’t mean to!” was the first thing he shouted as he entered. “I really didn’t! How did you know?” he exclaimed, stopping abruptly in front of the Hokage’s desk.

Tsunade finished signing a scroll before bothering to look up at him. She raised an eyebrow, an annoyed expression crossing her face.

“What? What are you going on about?” She asked loudly. “If this is about the elders, of course I know. Utatane wouldn’t shut up about it.”

It was Naruto’s turn to look at the Hokage weirdly.

“What?” he asked (shouted), confused. Then his face lightened up. “Oh! You mean the paint thing!”

“Yes, Naruto, the ‘paint thing’”, answered Tsunade, clearly annoyed. “You should not have done it. It was very rude.”

“She was rude to me first!” retorted petulantly Naruto.

“You really shouldn’t make yourself an enemy of her, kid,” exclaimed Tsunade. “After all,” she added thoughtfully, “it’s going to make your life quite harder when you’ll be working with her.”

“What do you mean when –“ Naruto’s brain caught up with his mouth. He opened wide eyes and shut his mouth. His face had gone somewhat pale. “…what?”

“Sit down, Naruto,” said Tsunade firmly. The hyperactive ninja obeyed without a sound. “Come on, don’t make my face. It’s no secret that I’ve been meaning to make you my heir.” Still, Naruto did not make a sound, but his entire body had gone rigid.

Tsunade got up and started to pace behind her desk. “Of course, I won’t give you the hat right now. Now for a few years at least, if everything goes according to plan. But,” there she stopped and looked at Naruto straight in the eyes, “you’ll need to be prepared.” She waited for Naruto to speak for a few seconds. “Well? No reaction?”

Naruto blinked at shook his head. When he looked up at Tsunade, his face was uncharacteristically serious. “Are you sure about this?” he asked quietly.

A fond smile slowly stretched the Fourth’s lips. When she had first met Naruto, if she had made such an offer, he would have been bouncing off the walls, screaming and claiming that he would make the best Hokage ever. He would have spoken of his dream of being recognized by the village. He would have gone right off the window to spread the news to his friends. But Naruto had grown up. He was not the little boy Tsunade had met years ago anymore. He was still the same person at the core, of course, but time and pain had made him a little wiser, a little more mature, and a little more intelligent. He still put up a goofy smile for the world and still could not seem to stand still most of the time, but his naiveté was nothing but a front. A mask.

“Would you see me make somebody else my heir, Naruto?” she asked, curious.

Naruto looked down, frowning. He thought for a minute before answering.

“I don’t know. I’m not the greatest of thinkers, and I’m always offending people right and left. I can’t remember faces and names.” He looked at Tsunade. “I want to protect Konoha. But I’m already doing that, aren’t I? I don’t…” He looked lost for a moment. “I don’t really know what it means. Being Hokage. I mean, I know how to lead a mission, all right, and I’m not a bad fighter –“ Tsunade snorted at that. Understatement of the century. “But it’s more than that, isn’t it? I’ve spoken about it with Shikamaru, some time ago. He said that if I wanted to be Hokage, I had a lot of work in front of me. Before being ready, I mean. And that it would be horribly, well, he said troublesome, but he always says that…”

Naruto quieted down and looked at his hands, his ears burning. Tsunade suddenly laughed out loud. Naruto looked up, shocked.

“Brat!” laughed the Fourth. “Did Nara tell you that you would be a bad Hokage? Hm? I didn’t think so. He wants you to take the hat. He’ll follow you. But he wants you to be ready. Don’t you see?” Tsunade leaned over her desk, grinning at Naruto. “The important thing about being Hokage, Naruto, is that your people follow you. You protect them, you take care of them, and in exchange, they’ll go to their death for you. That’s what it means!” She straightened up, hands on her hips. “I won’t give the hat to somebody like Shikamaru, even for all his brains, because he doesn’t inspire people. He doesn’t move crowds. He doesn’t make people change their minds about things they’ve believed all their lives. But you know what, kid? You do. You say ‘I’m going to do it!’ and then you _do it_. Konoha loves you because she knows that you’ll sacrifice anything for her. That you’ll make the impossible possible. You have a gift, Naruto,” Tsunade said, suddenly very serious, “and I believe that it’ll make you the best Hokage Konoha has ever been granted.”

Naruto looked at Tsunade, stunned. Then, surprising her, he got up and bowed. “Then I’ll be your heir, lady Hokage,” he said solemnly before straightening up. “I won’t let you down.”

For a few seconds they stood there, facing each other, smiling.

“Well!” exclaimed Tsunade, breaking the solemn moment. “Come with me, we’ve got a lot to do!”

“What, right now?” complained Naruto, turning back to his childish ways. “But I wanted to train!” he complained, nonetheless following his leader out of her office. “And I’ve got to meet up with Kiba and Hinata and Shino at noon and I’ve got to find Sakura – hey, d’you know where Sakura is?”

“We’ve got plenty of time before noon,” said Tsunade loudly. “And Sakura should be at the library. She’s been studying.” She threw a look at Naruto over her shoulder. “Speaking of studying, you have better have finished reading the scroll I gave you.”

“Ah, hahaha, yes, of course,” said Naruto, rubbing the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at his boss.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and took a sharp turn to the left. She made a few quick handsigns, breaking the seals on the door after reaching the end of the corridor, and disappeared into the room. Naruto followed her in cautiously.

It was not a very big room, but it was overflowing with documents. There was a clear space with a desk in front of the large window (which Naruto suspected was only allowed because they were at the highest level of the tower and must have been reinforced with countless seals). The walls were covered with books and scrolls and rows of shelves took the rest of the space.

“Close the door!” said Tsunade. “Here, I’ll show you how to seal it back.”

She stood next to Naruto and showed him the handsigns. “Memorize it, because you’ll be here a lot in the next few years.” She moved back to the shelves and started looking for something in it. “If you’re to be Hokage, I won’t be able to send you to as many mission, and you can kiss goodbye to long-term ones,” she continued.

“But granny -!” protested Naruto, shocked.

“Don’t call me that. You’ll come to the tower every day for a few hours for your Hokage-training. Don’t worry,” she added before he could interrupt, “you’ll have time to do the rest of your training. Ah-ha!” she said, taking a scroll from the shelf and turning to her new heir. “Come here and look at this.”

She placed the scroll on the desk and rolled it out. It was a map of the Land of Fire. She pointed at a small picture.

“See?” Naruto jumped on the desk and, crouched, stretched his neck to see what she was showing. “That’s Konoha.”

“I know that, granny,” answered Naruto, looking at her like she had lost her marbles. Tsunade tsk-ed.

“I bloody hope so. Now,” she pointed another spot on the map, “what’s this?”

“That’s the Capital, isn’t it? Where the Daimyo is?” answered Naruto.

“That’s right. And what’s this?” she pointed another spot. Naruto squinted.

“What – I don’t know! No, wait! I think I’ve gone there for a mission, once.” He looked confused for a moment. “Wait, I’m sure I know the name, I’ve seen it before –“

Tsunade did not wait for him to fail to recover his memory and pointed another spot. “And here?”

“How should I know?” exclaimed Naruto. “I’ve never been there.”

“And here?” said Tsunade, moving her finger.

“Er…”

“And here?” insisted the Hokage, showing him another village.

“Well…”

“And here?” asked Tsunade once again.

“It’s, well, I’m not sure but –“

Tsunade interrupted him. “Those are key places in the Fire Country. These villages have the best of our lands. Their people have been farmers for generations. Without them, we starve. Now, what’s this?” she asked, pointing another spot.

“A farming village?” asked Naruto, hopeful.

“No,” answered the Hokage sternly. “This is our largest harbour. It grants us access to the sea and it makes our sea trade possible. Without this, no more fishes for Konoha or anywhere else in the Land of Fire.” She pointed another spot. “This is our secondary harbour. Most of our trade with Sand is made there. Now, see here?”

Naruto looked.

“From here to here are most of our mines. That’s where we get the iron we use for our equipment and for everyday life tools. If the mines close down, we have to depend on neighbouring countries for any metal we need. And that puts us into a dangerous situation.”

Tsunade sat in the desk chair and turned to Naruto. “Do you know how many people there are in the Land of Fire?”

“No, I don’t,” said Naruto, frowning. “But I should, shouldn’t I?”

“Yes, yes you should. And you should know how many people there are in Konoha. And you should roughly know the size of every town of importance of the country. But more importantly, you need to know something else.” Tsunade made a gesture in direction of the map. “Every city in the Land of Fire plays its part. Every city is important in its own way. Without the farmers, we are nothing. Without the Daimyo, there is no equilibrium, no social cohesion. Without the iron mines, we are helpless against intruders. Konoha’s job is to protect all this. It’s a heavy burden. We make sure that everything’s going all right, that everybody is safe. We protect the merchants so that they can trade and bring us back goods we need and can’t produce ourselves. We protect the borders so that other countries won’t steal our mines. We help the farmers out if there’s a flood so that everybody has enough to eat. That’s why we fight. That’s why we put our lives on the line. And because we do so, because we sacrifice so much for them, the rest of the Fire citizens support us.”

Naruto nodded.

“Being Hokage means taking this responsibility. It also means making tough decisions. You have a certain number of ninjas. You have to pay them. Bigger missions are more expensive. You only have a certain amount of resources and you have to make do with it. If there’s war, you have to choose which cities to protect. You have to keep the country from falling apart. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.”

Naruto looked troubled at that, but he hesitantly nodded once more.

“And then there’s Konoha itself. Hundreds of thousands of people live in our walls. Everyday thousands upon thousands of farm animals are butchered for Konoha. Hundreds of tons of flour are used to make bread or noodles or cakes. An unfathomable number of eggs are sold and eaten. Clothes are sewed, fabrics are made and wood is cut down and transformed so it can make new houses. The city never stops. There may be war, there may be a bad earthquake, there may be anything, but this entire circus still needs to happen. As Hokage, you need to make sure it does.”

“Well…” Naruto hesitated. He scratched his head, and then grinned. “If you can do it, granny, I’m sure that I’ll manage!”

“You’re such a brat,” growled Tsunade, but her eyes showed that she was not serious. “Well,” she said, getting up, “since you’re so motivated, we’ll start by making you memorize the name of every major city of the Land of Fire. Then we’ll start with their major exports and imports.”

The face Naruto made at that was one Tsunade would have given up her secret Sake cache for.

Almost three hours of Hokage-training (torture), three shouting matches, one mighty punch and one demolished shelf later, Naruto was finally able to escape the secondary archive room. He ran away at full speed from the Hokage tower, vowing never to return (well, not really, but he dreaded his next lesson already. He hoped being Hokage would be worth it).

He automatically went to Ichiraku, like he did every time he needed to drown in troubles in ramen (or to celebrate. This situation seemed to encompass both options). Then, as he sat on his usual stool, he remembered that he had to meet Team 8 at the bridge, so he ran back to the bridge under Teuchi’s astonished gaze. When he arrived, he realized that he was half-an-hour early, so he tried to sit and wait. He was able to do so for approximately thirty seconds before jumping on his feet and deciding to train somewhat. He jumped on the river and tried to form water bunshins. It was frankly useless, since he could do Kage Bunshin, but it occupied him. Then he thought of a weird idea, his brain going overboard like usual. Maybe he could combine his rasengan with water somehow and make it even more awesome than usual!

When Team 8 finally showed up, Naruto was completely soaked and struggling with a useless mutation of rasengan which basically made lots of water splash everywhere in a fairly harmless way. Shino sighed, Hinata blushed (as Naruto had taken of his vest and his wet white shirt left little to the imagination) and Kiba laughed. Until he took what felt like a gallon of water in the face.

“Naruto!” he shouted, drenched.

Naruto looked up, grinning madly, but his face transformed in an expression of ‘oh shit’ when he saw Kiba. He promptly dropped his latest innovation and proceeded to run away, followed by an irate Kiba.

Shino and Hinata sat at a bench near the bridge and made small talk as they enjoyed the show.

Twenty minutes later, after Naruto had been tossed into the river a few times and Kiba had half-drowned at least twice, the two ninjas went back to their friends, somewhat calmed down. Well. ‘Calmed down’ is a relative expression.

Naruto and Kiba bickered all the way to the hospital where, after they asked for Sakura’s whereabouts, Naruto remembered having been told by Tsunade that she was at the library. By the time they got there, Naruto and Kiba weren’t dripping quite so much anymore, but the librarian would not let them enter the building anyway. Shino and Hinata went to retrieve Sakura.

“Sakura!” exclaimed Naruto when she emerged from the library with Shino and Hinata. “I need your help with a scroll,” he pleaded.

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Hi to you too, idiot,” she smirked. “I’ll see about that later.” She turned to the rest of them and lifted an eyebrow at Kiba’s soaked state. “I see you boys had fun.”

Kiba glowered. “An idiot decided that water-throwing was a new sport,” he said, sniffing.

“Hey!” shouted Naruto. Sakura snickered.

“Where’s Akamaru?” she asked Kiba.

“He needed shots, so I left him at the vet’ for the afternoon,” answered Kiba uneasily. He hated being separated from his giant dog, after all.

Sakura nodded sagely and left the subject alone. “So, where are we eating?” She saw Naruto light up and open his mouth, bouncing. “Except Ichiraku. I’ve had enough of Ichiraku for a lifetime.” Naruto closed his mouth, dejected.

“Hinata?” asked Shino as the young woman. She looked up, startled. “Did you not have a suggestion?”

The shy kunoichi looked at her feet while answering. “W-Well, there’s a new restaurant which opened near the Hyuuga compound… It’s a bit expensive, but…”

“Let’s go, then!” shouted Naruto excitedly. “It’s all right, it’s for a special occasion!”

He broke into a sprint in the direction of the Hyuuga compound. The rest of the ninjas exchanged glances.

“What special occasion?” asked Kiba.

Shrugging, they followed Naruto, figuring that they would be told when they caught up with the hyperactive ninja.

Finally, Naruto arrived fifteen minutes after them to the restaurant, having gotten lost on the way. It was delicious but, as Hinata had said, very expensive. Of course, they managed to get thrown out of the place before finishing dessert because Kiba and Naruto did not know the meaning of staying seated for any amount of time, and because they always ended up fighting when they were in company of each other. Oh, well. It is not as if Shino and the girls had not predicted that outcome.

They ended up sitting on the roofs of the Hyuuga compound, exchanging stories and news. But Sakura had to go and work at the hospital by mid-afternoon and Team 8 did have a mission to finish planning, so they eventually decided to call it a day. Before separating, though, Hinata spoke up.

“N-Naruto?” she asked, blushing when all her comrades focused their attention on her.

“Yeah?” he answered, smiling.

“W-What was the s-special occasion?”

“Uh?” exclaimed Naruto, scratching his head. “Special occasion?” Then he realized. “Oh, that! Yeah, well, granny Tsunade gave me a lesson.”

Everybody looked at him with confusion.

“…Yes?” said Shino.

“I mean a special lesson!”

“ Oh, I thought that that punch mark seemed familiar,” wondered Sakura, looking at the faint bruising that had been left of Naruto’s cheek. It needed to have been quite a hit to still be visible hours after having been delivered, with Naruto’s healing factor and all. “How is that special?”

“No, no, I mean…” Naruto looked frustrated. “You know, learning village’s names and all that stuff, to get me prepared, you know…” Very uncharacteristically for him, he reddened and fidgeted.  

Shino was the first one to catch up.

“Oh. You mean your training to become Hokage,” he deadpanned.   

There were a few seconds of stunned silence before everybody started speaking at once.

“Wow! Way to go, Naruto!” shouted Kiba, punching his shoulder. “Incredible!”

“C-Congratulation, Naruto!”

“You did it, you idiot! You did it!” Sakura did a small dance and hugged Naruto fiercely.   

“It was a logical choice,” said Shino gravely. “Congratulation. You’ll be a good Hokage.”

“G-Guys…” said Naruto, his face red like a tomato.

“I’ve got to tell the rest of the guys!” exclaimed Kiba. “Ino’s at her shop, yeah? I’ll start there!” In a second he was gone to spread the news.

“I-I think that Neji is back from his l-latest mission,” said Hinata. “I’ll tell him and his team, if they are in the village,” she added before hugging timidly Naruto and jumping down the roof to go and find her cousin.

Shino, abandoned by his teammates, shook his head. “I see that we will not work on our mission plans this afternoon,” he said. “I will announce the news to my clan, if I may, Naruto,” he continued. Naruto, stunned, could only nod in agreement as Shino departed.

That left Naruto and Sakura. They grinned at each other, eyes shining.

“It’s going to be hard,” she told him teasingly.

“Hey! That’s what Shikamaru told me!” laughed Naruto.

“There are going to be countless meetings –“

“Booooring meetings,” interrupted Naruto.

“And you’ll have to learn all sorts of things you don’t really care about –“

“Oh yeah. I’ve already started.”

“Entertain foreign dignitaries –“

“Snotty nobility, you mean –“

“Never have any vacations –“

“Pull all-nighters all the time –“

“You’ll never have a moment to yourself anymore!” finished Sakura.

Naruto laughed. After a moment of silence, he said, “It’s so going to be worth it.”

“Yeah. It’s going to be worth it,” agreed Sakura. “It really is going to be.”

Naruto and Sakura went their separate ways after that, saying goodbye and Sakura shouting congratulation again as she hopped down the roof.

And Naruto could not help but think that, with all these incredible people ready to support him and trusting him to lead them, yeah, it was all going to turn out all right.

 

END

**Author's Note:**

> My English is very rusty (I usually write in French), so I'm sorry for all the horrible grammatical mistakes. If you see something that doesn't make any sense, could you tell me? 
> 
> I have this bad habit of using French expressions and translating them directly, hoping that there is an equivalent in English. That's not always the case, so don't hesitate to tell me about those too.


End file.
